Doctor of Business Administration, Cleveland State University, 2013, Nance College of Business Administration

As markets become more turbulent, dynamic, and competitive, and as customers become more sophisticated and demanding, the scope of capabilities and resources needed to meet customer needs, wants, and desires are less likely to be found in any one firm. Instead, firms must develop strong collaborative capabilities. Though the benefits of interfirm collaboration for focal firms (the firms responsible for the final offering) and suppliers are reasonably well understood, effectiveness and efficiency in collaboration remain elusive for many firms. It is likely that the collaborative capabilities of both focal firms and key suppliers contribute to effective collaboration, and that the collaborative capabilities of focal firms may influence the collaborative capabilities of suppliers, which in turn influence product-market outcomes. This dissertation proposes an integrative model drawing on three prominent streams in collaboration and supply chain research. In the proposed model, supplier collaborative capabilities mediate the association between focal-firm collaborative capabilities and operational product-market outcomes (closeness of the final offering to end-user needs and delivery performance). The model is founded in the knowledge-based and dynamic capabilities views of the firm, and tested empirically with data from a sample of managers from focal firms in industries producing relatively complex final products. Evidence is found of a relationship between focal-firm collaborative capabilities and supplier capabilities, and between supplier capabilities and product-market outcomes. This study contributes to scholarship and practice in interfirm collaboration by testing an integrative model drawn from three prominent streams of collaboration and supply chain research, by clarifying the dimensions of the collaborative communications construct and investigating its relationship with operational outcomes, by investigating the mediating role of supplier capabilities (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Amit Ghosh Ph.D (Committee Chair); Raj Javalgi Ph.D (Committee Member); Sreedhar Madhavaram Ph.D (Committee Member); Yuping Wu Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Business Administration; Marketing

Doctor of Business Administration, Cleveland State University, 2011, Nance College of Business Administration

There is strong evidence that U.S. organizations are increasingly implementing supplier development programs to help their suppliers improve quality, enhance delivery performance, reduce costs, and in turn improve their own supply chain performance. However, many of these supplier development programs are not successful. This study argues that an understanding of the knowledge transfer process should play a central role in understanding improvements in buyer-supplier performance resulting from supplier development activities. Building on the extant supplier development literature and relevant knowledge transfer literature, this study investigates key antecedents and performance outcomes of knowledge transfer in a supplier development context. Specifically, the study tests the impact of the extent of supplier development involvement, trust (competence and benevolence), shared vision and supplier's learning intent on the effectiveness (comprehension and usefulness) and efficiency (speed and economy) of knowledge transfer and the influence of knowledge transfer on buyer-supplier performance. For this research, 167 U.S. manufacturing firms were used to test the hypotheses. The results show that suppliers' learning intent and benevolence trust positively impact both the effectiveness and efficiency of knowledge transfer. Supplier development involvement was found to have a positive effect on knowledge transfer effectiveness while shared vision and competence trust had positive effect on knowledge transfer efficiency. The findings also show that both effectiveness and efficiency of knowledge transfer have impact on supplier delivery performance but have no direct effect on supplier cost performance. This research makes an important contribution to the literature on the antecedents of successful knowledge transfer in supplier development. First, the research highlights that supplier's learning intent leads to better comprehension, better application and quicker absorptio (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Injazz Chen DBA (Committee Chair); Antony Paulraj DBA (Committee Co-Chair); Walter Rom PhD (Committee Member); Chia-Shin Chung PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Business Administration; Management